While Brenda Lee was beginning to rock around the Christmas tree and the year 2011 was nearing its inevitable end I carried on with my research work and I actually succeeded in obtaining some scientific data. Once the alloys, which are under my investigation, ranging in composition with respect to Sn /Al ratio were cast and adequately heat treated an optical, XRD and SEM analysis were performed in order to examine their microstructure, morphology and composition. EDS analysis confirmed that the composition of the samples corresponded to the intended composition. Also initial studies of both SEM and XRD results revealed the presence of structures typical for Heusler L21 and martenistic phases in the considered materials.
The research goes on…